Damn these stairs!
by Ginger-Whinger
Summary: A short one-shot that is my version of how Lily and James first met and how she became known as 'Evans'. It is an out-take from my short story 'Why do you Hate me'.


**A/N This is a short one-shot about ****my version of the first time that Lily and James met. This is an out-take from my short story 'Why Do You Hate Me?' but I feel it works as a stand alone.**

Lily remembered that day as their first at Hogwarts. She had just been sorted into Gryffindor house along with Alice, Mary, Sirius, Remus, Peter and James. Although they had just a few seats away from each other in the Great Hall after sorting Lily had not yet spoken to James. They had been led into Gryffindor common room by Luke Johnson the current Head Boy.

"Okay, first years gather round come on." The scared first years none of whom were over five feet tall huddled around Luke who towered over them. Luke beamed he was clearly enjoying himself. "Right this is the common room where you will spend most of your time except for eating and classes. The staircase to your right leads up to the girls' dormitories and to the left the boys."

"The way I remember it is that girls are always right!" One of the female prefects piped in. There were was a smattering of giggles from the group.

"Yes thank you, Sarah." Luke smiled at her. "Your welcome Luke" and she winked at him before heading up the girls stairs. Luke blushed furiously much to the further amusement of the first years.

Luke composed himself and continued. "I now have a question for you all. What are Gryffindors famous for?"

There was silence for a few moments before a shout came from a boy near the back who even in first year was taller than the rest. His scruffy black hair added to his height as it was sticking up in all directions. "Bravery and courage." He said proudly.

"Absolutely correct, now I need a male volunteer to show their Gryffindor bravery and courage!" He looked expectantly into the crowd, as did Lily. All of the boys were looking at anything other than Luke, except the boy who had just given the answer. He was practically jumping up and down trying to get Luke's attention. "I'll do it!" This made a girl in front of him jump almost out of her skin.

"Excellent," Luke finally responded to the boys pleas. "Come up here by the girls' stairs." He then raised his voice and addressed the whole common room. "Alright everybody gather round, this young man's going to try and get up the girls stairs!" There were murmurs and chuckles from all around as everybody got up and headed towards them. Before Lily knew what was happening she was been buffeted forwards and almost up the girls dormitories stairs herself. Someone walked past her at pace and stood on her foot as they passed. Lily was about to let her indignation be known when he spun around. It was the volunteer.

"Oh I'm really sorry was that your foot? Wow!" He stopped and looked at her as their eyes locked. After a few seconds which felt like minutes he realised that he was beginning to stare and Lily was getting uncomfortable. Lily looked up at him questioningly. The boy blushed and looked away. "Sorry… err again. It's just your eyes are really pretty." He mumbled this last part to the floor. It was now Lily's turn to blush. What do you say to something like that? "I'm James by the way, James Potter." He held out a hand to her and smiled. She took it and blushed some more.

"I'm-" but Lily didn't get chance to tell him her name as James was grabbed by Luke and pulled away from her. He looked at her and gave her hand a small squeeze before releasing it.

"Okay boys and girls gather round because-" Luke looked at James to query his name.

"James Potter." He announced proudly to the amassed Gryffindors.

"James here has taken up the Gryffindor challenge!" There was a small amount of applause. "Okay James your challenge is to get as far up though stairs as possible." He pointed towards the girls dormitory stairs.

There was a pause. "That's it?" James looked suspicious and Lily thought that he had every right to be.

"That's it." Luke confirmed "When you're ready James." And with that he stepped back to watch James along with everyone else. Every eye in the common room was on James and he looked around at the faces looking back at him expectantly.

"Right here I go." He caught Lily's eyes and winked at her before running full sprint past her up the stairs. A siren blared as James' feet reached the third step and by the time he reached the seventh the stairs had turned into a slide! There was a thump and a groan as James stumbled and began to slide back down into the common room. James was soon lying flat on his face at Lily' feet wrapped up in his brand new overly large robes. The whole common room erupted with laughter and the laughter increased when Sarah came shooting down the stairs even faster than James had. Luke stepped right over James to help Sarah to her feet. Lily held out her hand to help James up which he took gratefully.

"Thanks." He was bright red but grinning from ear to ear. "Well, it looks like I've already fallen for you. The only question now is how long before you fall for me?" He leant forward and whispered the last part into her ear.

All of a sudden wolf-whistles and cat calls were echoing around the common room. Lily was mortified and embarrassed beyond belief. It was her first day at a wizarding school and she was already the person people were laughing at. She forced herself past James, Luke and Sarah whose lips were locked together and stormed up the stairs which had returned to there normal functional state.

"Hey, wait I'm really sorry." But Lily was already up the stairs and James knew that he could not follow. "Damn these stairs! Hey you, what's that girls name?" Though James was shouting his voice was slowly getting quieter.

"Err… not sure, something Evans I think."

"Evans! Hey Evans, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to-" But that was all Lily heard as she slammed the door to her new dormitory.

**A/N**** I felt this story might explain why Lily disliked James and how she became known as 'Evans'. We're having some nice weather here in Britain for once so it might be a while before I put something new up. But I am thoroughly burnt! XD**

**Any reviews are appreciated if you like it or dislike please could you tell me why and I will try and emulate it in my future fics. ****Don't forget to check out my other stories. They are all J/L fics and if you like this you will like them too, I hope!**

**Thanks for reading, and reviewing for those that do. ;-P  
****GingerWhinger**


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